1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to dish draining racks and, more specifically, to such racks that incorporate integral structure for receiving and supporting beverageware.
2. The Prior Art
Dish draining racks are popular consumer items. Typically such products comprise a molded plastic, or wire box-shaped body, having a central chamber for receiving and supporting dishes in an inverted condition. The bottom floor of conventional racks have openings therethrough to allow wash water from the dishes to drain through the rack and onto a mat placed therebeneath, from which the water is channeled into a sink. U.S. Design Pat. No. 345,834 shows such a dish rack.
Alternatively, some currently available dish racks are formed of plastic coated wire, as illustrated by Design Pat. No. 174,073. They likewise have a central chamber defined by a bottom floor and sidewalls, and the chamber includes upstanding rack panels that support dishes on edge.
The aforementioned commercial racks typically include glass supporting posts along one or more sidewalls. The posts project upward in cantilevered fashion from a bottom of the rack to a top of the sidewall. Glasses are inverted and placed over the top ends of the posts to dry. The glasses so positioned are located outside of the sidewalls of the panels and hang in such a manner that water exiting the glasses falls to the outside of the rack sidewalls.
While the described state of the art dish racks work well and have been well received, certain shortcomings prevent them from representing an optimum solution to the industry's needs. First, the glasses, when inverted and mounted over the posts, hang outside of the rack and tend to overhang the mat positioned therebeneath. Water dropping from the glasses can miss the underlying mat and thereby avoid direction into the adjacent sink.
Moreover, the glasses hanging to the outside of the rack utilize space. In applications where such space is at a premium, the space occupied by the hanging glasses may by unavailable and the utility of the rack compromised thereby. In addition, the glasses hanging to the outside of the rack are exposed to inadvertent contact and can be dislodged from the posts. So dislodged, the glasses can fall and break.